Feeling aircraft sensations

And btw, it was only recently that I learnt that an airplane could also
be landed by looking out the window. A good pilot friend told me that
he routinely landed by purely visual references! Until then, I was
under the belief that nobody sensible could afford to take his eyes off
the instruments in a phase of flight as critical as the final. That's
probably because I can't perceive airspeed

Percieving airspeed in jets might be harder (never flown one) but it's
generally not too hard in piston singles. Really, as long as you can
see the runway, there's no need to use any instruments. Most people (or
at least the ones I've flown with, myself included) don't look at
anything except the airspeed when in the pattern (and even that is just
checked every few seconds or so as a reference).
Basically, do you need instruments to stay on the road or maneuver the
car while driving? And do you need be constantly looking at the
speedometer? Flying is like driving, in a way, just in three
dimensions. You do it all on outside cues*.

*Obviously, this doesn't include flight in instrument conditions (low
visibility, basically).

Ramapriya wrote:

A good pilot friend told me
that he routinely landed by purely visual references!

It sounds like you need to get this pilot friend to take you for a ride in a
small plane.

--
John T
http://sage1solutions.com/TknoFlyer
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____________________

Yes, you can tell when you are turning, etc to an extent. Part of
training requires that you close your eyes, get disoriented, and then
recover the aircraft. Most of use rarely actually get disoriented in
those tests. However, that is for a short period of time. If you closed
your eyes for several minutes you would certainly lose you ability to
tell if you were turning or not.

-Robert

"Ramapriya" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks, Pete. I wasn't asking any specific questions as such, and only
wanted to know whether you guys can generally tell these parameters
without actually reading them off the instruments.

Yup. If anything, obtaining the information from outside references can be
easier than using the instruments. The human brain isn't really configured
to process numbers, and even an analog gauge doesn't translate directly to
human perception.

"Airspeed is less difficult than altitude" gives me a definite complex,
because that was the one thing I just couldn't estimate at all.

As Bob and Bob have pointed out, estimating airspeed in the situation you
described is different from estimating airspeed when it really matters. At
cruise altitude, you mainly just set your power setting, stay on altitude,
and let the airspeed be what it will be (though it should generally always
be the same for a given weight and power setting).

But during landing, you're close enough to the ground to get a good
perception of airspeed, and of course there's all the other points of
reference I mentioned. Actually though, movement relative to the ground is
the least important reference; even in a jet, your groundspeed can be
significantly different from airspeed (and airspeed is what matters, while
groundspeed is what you can see), and in a light plane, winds can cause as
much as a 50% or more difference in perceived groundspeed versus actual
airspeed.

But again, as far as airspeed goes, the visual reference is the least
important. You can easily tell the actual airspeed from the air noise and
from how the controls feel (again, may not apply in an Airbus, where the
controls are not directly connected to the control surfaces).

And btw, it was only recently that I learnt that an airplane could also
be landed by looking out the window. A good pilot friend told me that
he routinely landed by purely visual references! Until then, I was
under the belief that nobody sensible could afford to take his eyes off
the instruments in a phase of flight as critical as the final. That's
probably because I can't perceive airspeed

If you actually were flying, I think you'd be surprised at what you can
perceive. But yes, visual references is *primary* for all pilots. The
instruments are used mainly when the pilot cannot see outside the airplane.

Pete

And btw, it was only recently that I learnt that an airplane could also
be landed by looking out the window. A good pilot friend told me that
he routinely landed by purely visual references! Until then, I was
under the belief that nobody sensible could afford to take his eyes off
the instruments in a phase of flight as critical as the final. That's
probably because I can't perceive airspeed

Percieving airspeed in jets might be harder (never flown one) but it's
generally not too hard in piston singles. Really, as long as you can
see the runway, there's no need to use any instruments. Most people (or
at least the ones I've flown with, myself included) don't look at
anything except the airspeed when in the pattern (and even that is just
checked every few seconds or so as a reference).
Basically, do you need instruments to stay on the road or maneuver the
car while driving? And do you need be constantly looking at the
speedometer? Flying is like driving, in a way, just in three
dimensions. You do it all on outside cues*.

*Obviously, this doesn't include flight in instrument conditions (low
visibility, basically).

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
ups.com...
Yes, you can tell when you are turning, etc to an extent. Part of
training requires that you close your eyes, get disoriented, and then
recover the aircraft. Most of use rarely actually get disoriented in
those tests. However, that is for a short period of time. If you closed
your eyes for several minutes you would certainly lose you ability to
tell if you were turning or not.

-Robert


Years ago, 26 to be exact, when I first got my PPL I went to an FAA safety
seminar which are rarely held locally, I'm the youngest person there by at
least 15 years. They have the spinning chair (with a joy stick) where they
sit you down, blind fold you and spin you. Your job is to move the stick
like it is controlling what you are feeling.

The old guys laughed as I was the first and sure enough I steered left when
I was either not spinning at all or was spinning the other way. One of the
old guys who laughed especially hard was next in the chair and when it was
stopped he moved the stick to the right and then the FAA guy said something
to him and he turned his head and then he started pulling back on the stick
like he was climbing. Being a pilot of many 1000 hours he new this could not
be the case so he pushed the stick forward. Laughs were had by all except
for the guy in the chair.

"John T" wrote

Ramapriya wrote:

A good pilot friend told me
that he routinely landed by purely visual references!

It sounds like you need to get this pilot friend to take you for
a ride in a small plane.

That's a real problem, He's in Dubai UAE, and I'm in Tampa, Florida.
:-) I've been trying to get him to go for a short sightseeing flight
for quite a while now. :-)

Bob Moore

Bob Moore wrote:
"John T" wrote

Ramapriya wrote:

A good pilot friend told me
that he routinely landed by purely visual references!

It sounds like you need to get this pilot friend to take you for
a ride in a small plane.

That's a real problem, He's in Dubai UAE, and I'm in Tampa, Florida.
:-) I've been trying to get him to go for a short sightseeing flight
for quite a while now. :-)

Bob Moore


I will, in a few weeks, in that Jet Fox.
Watch this space )

Ramapriya